The general comparison shows both countries
on their ordinary rules. This page answers the question that actually decides the bill:
which regime — every option each country offers, on the same income,
each computed with the same engine and verified data as the per-country calculators.
One amount, both countries, every regime
The figures show left after tax and contributions and, in brackets, the effective rate.
Spain€34,359(31.3%)
Portugal€30,560(38.9%)
On €60,000, that is €3,799 more left after tax and contributions in Spain.
Spain
Autónomo — estimación directa simplificada — The standard route for the self-employed: real income minus deductible expenses; applies while prior-year turnover is within EUR 600,000. · details
left after tax and contributions: €34,359(31.3%)
Régimen especial de impatriados (art. 93 LIRPF, 'Ley Beckham') — You are moving to Spain after 5 tax years as a non-resident, with a certified entrepreneurial activity or as a highly qualified professional working for a start-up; runs for up to 6 years. · details
left after tax and contributions: €33,400(33.2%)
Only if — and you confirm this yourself: Available for 6 tax years in total; Not tax resident in Spain during the 5 tax periods preceding the year of the move to Spain (art. 93.1.a LIRPF; reduced from 10 to 5 by Ley 28/2022 with effect from 1 Jan 2023).
Portugal
Regime simplificado (category B) — The default for most freelancers: taxable income is a set share of turnover, actual expenses are not asked for; open up to EUR 200,000 of annual turnover. · details
left after tax and contributions: €30,560(38.9%)
Contabilidade organizada (organised accounting) — Accounting on your actual profit — compulsory once turnover exceeds EUR 200,000, an option below it. · details
A regime is only comparable while you can see its assumptions. Each row above is a real
calculation on that regime's own qualifying example, with your amount swapped in:
Spain — Autónomo — estimación directa simplificada: deductible business expenses — €10,000; region — Madrid.
Spain — Régimen especial de impatriados (art. 93 LIRPF, 'Ley Beckham'): deductible business expenses — €10,000; region — Madrid; what you do — certified entrepreneurial activity.
Portugal — Regime simplificado (category B): deductible business expenses — €10,000; what you do — Professional services (activities on the art. 151.º CIRS list); national rules, no region selected.
Portugal — Contabilidade organizada (organised accounting): deductible business expenses — €10,000; what you do — Professional services (activities on the art. 151.º CIRS list); national rules, no region selected.
The two regimes disagree about what income is
The rows above move for one reason before any other: the defaults define taxable income differently. Spain’s autónomo pays tax on what is left — turnover minus documented expenses, minus the cuotas paid, minus an allowance of 5% of net income capped at €2,000 a year. Portugal’s simplificado taxes a share of turnover fixed by your activity code — 75% for a profession on the art. 151.º list, 35% for a service that is not — and never asks what you spent. The coefficient is a cost allowance you get without spending, so the deciding variable is your expense ratio. A developer selling time from a laptop rarely spends what the coefficient assumes and is quietly over-deducting in Portugal; a freelancer carrying subcontractors, gear and travel gets credit for all of it in Spain and none in Lisbon. Settle the list question early: whether your registered activity sits on that table moves the Portuguese base more than any rate gap between the countries.
Contributions do the sorting the tax rates get credit for
Spain’s cuota is monthly, bracketed by an earnings forecast, and owed for every registered month whether clients paid or not; the base under it stops growing at €61,214 a year. Portugal charges 21.4% of 70% of service turnover, recomputed quarterly from what you declared — a dead quarter shrinks the bill instead of ignoring it — under a ceiling of €77,347. The deduction rules pull the countries further apart: Spain treats every cuota euro as a business expense, while Portugal lets contributions reduce the coefficient base only where they exceed 10% of gross income, and only for service activities.
The first year is its own comparison, and the matrix deliberately prices the steady state. A new autónomo pays a flat €80 a month plus a small surcharge; a new Portuguese independent pays no contributions for the first twelve months and gets the service coefficient cut for the opening years. Year one runs cheaper than your row says in either country, and Portugal’s arrival package is the bigger one.
The ceilings fork at different heights
Portugal’s simplified regime ends at €200,000 of turnover. Past it, contabilidade organizada becomes compulsory: a certified accountant with it, contributions on actual profit, and a minimum annual contribution base of €9,668. Spain’s simplified estimation holds until prior-year turnover passes €600,000. Between those lines sits a band where the Spanish freelancer still files from a spreadsheet and the Portuguese one is paying for an accounting engagement — price that in before comparing the tax lines alone.
Beckham is a door, not a default
The Beckham row prices a flat 24% on income up to €600,000, for up to 6 years. Read its conditions before wanting it: ordinary self-employment is excluded, and freelance income enters only as a certified entrepreneurial activity or as a highly qualified professional serving start-ups or doing R&D, after five preceding tax years outside Spain. Moving as an employee and going freelance later does not get you in. If your work fits none of those doors, the honest Spanish column for you is the autónomo one.
What changed in 2026
Spain’s RETA rates and bracket tables for 2026 arrived by ministerial order, but the first-year flat cuota did not: its statutory basis ran out with the previous cycle, the Budget Law that must now set it has not been passed, and Seguridad Social charges the old figure regardless — hence the provisional flag on the Spanish first-year line. Portugal’s 2026 Budget amended other articles of the income tax code and left the simplificado alone: the turnover ceiling and the coefficients carried over unchanged, the contribution code was not amended, and the annual IAS revision moved the contribution ceiling.
Questions people actually ask
Is Spain or Portugal cheaper for a freelancer on the same income?
Your cost structure decides it more than the rates do. Spain taxes real profit, so every documented expense lowers the bill; Portugal's simplified regime taxes a fixed share of turnover and ignores spending entirely. A freelancer selling time with few costs tends to keep more in Portugal, one who carries subcontractors and equipment tends to keep more in Spain. Run your own figure through the matrix above before trusting either generalisation.
What is the difference between autónomo and recibos verdes?
Autónomo is Spain's self-employed registration: a monthly social security cuota set by an earnings bracket, and income tax on real profit after expenses. Recibos verdes is the colloquial name for Portugal's independent-worker setup, where the default simplified regime taxes a share of turnover and contributions are recalculated quarterly from the income you declared. The names are paperwork; the money difference sits in how each country defines your taxable base.
Can a freelancer moving to Spain use the Beckham regime?
Usually not. Ordinary self-employment is excluded: business income enters the regime only as a certified entrepreneurial activity or as a highly qualified professional serving start-ups or doing research, and only after enough preceding tax years outside Spain. An employee who relocates and later quits to freelance falls outside its design. Treat the Beckham row above as a door to check, not a plan to build on.
Which country is easier in the first year of freelancing?
Portugal, on the arrival rules alone. It charges no social security for the first twelve months and cuts the service coefficient in the opening years, while Spain replaces its percentage cuota with a low flat monthly amount whose legal basis for this year is still pending. Both countries make year one cheaper than the steady state the matrix shows.
What happens when my turnover outgrows the simplified regimes?
Portugal's ceiling arrives first. Above it, organised accounting becomes compulsory, a certified accountant with it, and the social security floor rises. Spain's simplified estimation survives to a much higher turnover, so there is a wide band of income where a Spanish freelancer still runs on a spreadsheet while a Portuguese one is already paying for an accounting engagement.
Figures not yet fixed for this tax year
These amounts are applied in practice, but the text that fixes them for this tax year
does not exist yet: either the statute has not been passed, or the body that sets the
figure publishes it later than the year it applies to. We show them because leaving
them out would give you a worse answer, not a safer one — and we show you exactly what
each one rests on.
Spain — regimes[0].reduced_contribution.amount_per_period (EUR 80/month, tarifa plana) — EUR 80/month was fixed by law only for 2023-2025 (DT 5ª RDL 13/2022); from 2026 the amount must be set by the annual Budget Law, which has not been passed (budget rollover). No norm of statutory rank sets the 2026 figure. Seguridad Social nevertheless applies EUR 80 de facto and publishes the 2026 tables with it. Publishing it is less wrong than omitting the reduced cuota altogether, which would overstate a new freelancer's first-year cost by roughly EUR 1,400.
(what we relied on)
· we re-check after 2026-12-31
Spain — regimes[0].reduced_contribution.surcharge_per_period (EUR 8.64/month, MEI on top of the reduced cuota) — Derived from the total of EUR 88.64/month that Seguridad Social publishes for 2026 (88.64 - 80.00). It rests on the same unpassed Budget Law as the EUR 80 itself, and the MEI base used by the administration to reach 88.64 is not stated in any norm we could open.
(what we relied on)
· we re-check after 2026-12-31
What this calculator does not model
Every rule below is real and is left out on purpose — modelling it would need
information this form does not ask you for, or a mechanism we have not built yet. What
matters is not that something is missing, but which way it moves your number, so that
is what we tell you.
Your real tax may be LOWER — Portugal: In the first two years of activity the deemed-cost coefficients for services are cut (by half in the opening year, by a quarter in the next), and social security contributions are not due at all for the first twelve months. Neither relief is applied here. Applies to: Anyone who has just registered as self-employed — which is most people arriving in Portugal.
Your real tax may be HIGHER — Portugal: Part of the deemed expense allowance has to be backed by real, documented expenses: if you cannot show them, the taxable base is increased. We do not model that add-back, so a freelancer with few real expenses is shown a lower tax than the law would charge. Applies to: Freelancers on the simplified regime with few documented expenses or contributions.
May not apply to you — Portugal: Contributions are really assessed quarterly on the previous quarter's income, and you may adjust the assessed base up or down by up to 25%. We compute an annual figure from the income you enter, so your monthly bills will not match this line exactly even when the yearly total is close. Applies to: Everyone paying social security as a self-employed worker.
Your real tax may be LOWER — Portugal: Tax credits for health, education, rent and general family expenses are not modelled (see the income tax calculator for the same limitation) — the tax shown is before them. Applies to: Residents who file receipts, which is nearly everyone.
This calculator is for information only and is not tax advice. Rates and thresholds
change; check the methodology page for sources and
verification dates, and confirm your own situation with a qualified adviser.